Twins moving Midwest League affiliate from Beloit to Cedar Rapids

CLEVELAND -- The Twins are moving their Class A Midwest League affiliation from Beloit, Wis., to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a press conference to announce the new four-year agreement scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

"We went there [to Cedar Rapids] and visited the facilities and met with their board of directors yesterday," Twins minor league director Jim Rantz said. "We haven't signed anything yet, but there's probably going to be an announcement at 1:30 tomorrow."

After spending eight years in Beloit, the Twins were ready for the change. Cedar Rapids had been home to the Angels' Midwest League affiliate for 20 years, but now there's an opening. It's about one hour closer to the Twin Cities and has a much nicer ballpark.

"The stadium is 10 years old and seats 5,500; Beloit is still trying to get a stadium," Rantz said. "Cedar Rapids is another nice location for us geographically, and there are a number of Twins fans down that way."

Mr. Shucks. Photo from Cedar Rapids Kernels website.

Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.